Adjustable slip pinion



April 2, 1940. w. R. DUDA 2,195,398

ADJUSTABLE SLIP PINIQN I Filed Nov. 17, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WIT/V5656 INVENTOR. Maw. BY W RM (So-3AM ib humfl 7 m ATTORNEYS.

April 2, 1940. w. R. DUDA ADJUSTABLE SLIP PINION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 17, 1938 INVENTOR. (b R. Ma.

mrlvfssw invention is concerned with-improvements in power transmitters of the type which the driving and driven elements are operatively con- V ne'cted by means'o f-'afbank* of friction plates,.

" such transmitters being used when itvis desired to make provision for' some relative rotational slippage betweenthe driving anddrivenielements. Thus it may be desirable to utilize only a fraction v oi -the available power,] or to Iprotect 3 the driven .1 0" element'irom-excessive power peaks, or toinsulate thefprim'e fr'nover from harmful overloads, results": which are effected by slippage between the friction plates of'the'power transmitter.

I? a ro'tatabIe'spindleand a rotatable'ring' journaled upon either the. spindle or some other suitable support; the transmission of power through these members being in either direction depending user the situation in whichthe machine is em.-' p'loye dj "-lA' pl'urality or friction plat'es, alternativelys'plined to said-spindle and ring to form a v bank? :of 'interleavedfor interposed plates, oper-' atively connect thosemembers and transmitfrom' one to theotherafdefinite' part, either the whole 25' are. fraction; of theinput power. The amount of power sotfahsinjitteddepends, ofj cours e, upon thefrictionaladherenceor the plates, which in turnis determinedby thepressure-applied to the:

plateflbank and-forcing thefplate's together.

36 When a machinefjisthusl used to transmit a certainiractionfof"theinput power rather than mont'o" provide it with some, means by which a steady compressive pressure {may be applied. to

w 'plurality of bolts lodged'in eitherspindle or ring, I the power transmission fraction thus v depending 'upon the position'or tightness of vsaid bolts.

'A long appreciated defect in such machinery has been found in the fact' that adjustment of -fli these bolts or'other similar means used for the same-purpose couldonly be'madewhen the momher-which carried 'the bolts was; at rest. The inevi'table consequence wasthat; whenever an adjustment was 'made, the prime mover and all.

' 5fother machinerydirectly connected to the powertransmittinglmachine'had first to be broughtto N roll l'; while. in pinion stand 3 there are two end' housings 8 in'which are journaled a bottom pinion 9,"a-middle pinion. Ill meshing with pinion 9;

and a'ztop power-transmitter H which -meshes 5p a complete stop; which consequence followed 1 whethenthegposition of the bolts was erroneous,

one; newfractionpofuinput power was'desired or sili a-11am; lqadelconditionwas encountered. And.

Such transmitters 'are commonly composed of PATENT; [OFF-[ICE f 2,195,398 ADJUSTABLE SLIP PINION v wiitzel' Dnda, Mount m i n, Pa. '.:Application November1751938, s nammztome j v [some (o1.,64 3q moreover, the adjustment when made was merely by trial and error, since its efiect could not'be noted so l'ong as the machinery was at rest.

These objectionable characteristics "of prior 'drivehadjustments; are especially pronounced in I metal rolling mills, to which my invention is particularly' applicable. When steel strip is rolled upon a three-high mill stand, detrimentaljcurling of the product often occurs unless the top driven roll is permitted some slight rotational slippage 10' relative} to" the bottom driven'rolh It has long been customary, therefore, to drivethe top roll. through a opower; transmitter of the type just I described," while the bottom'zroll is positively com nected to the prime mover; Moreover, it has been II customary, to connect several mill stands to the same prime mover. when strip rolled in one mill began tocurl and an adjustment of the power transmitter became necessary, that'inill stand I and all others directly driven by the same prime 2'0" mover had to be brought to a fullfstop in order that aoworkmanmightchange the positions of several drive-adjusting bolts. Valuable time was thus consumed; and the heating a'ndrollingof barsstrip and the l'ike'detrimentally i t rf with. H J g s The primary objectof my present invention is to provide power-transmitting machines of this type with means by which theconipressiveforce I upon the plate bank may be adjusted while the 3'0- 'machine is operating and the spindle andring" 'for-a mere clutehingon-and-off action, it is comare rotating.

Other and further objects will appear from the descriptionbelow."

In 1 Ein'ying drawings my invention 5 is illustrated infits applicability to rolling mills,

inwhichfdrawings Fig. l is a somewhat diagram-Q matic elevation of athreehigh sheetmill and drive, the latterl being shown partly in" section;

Fig. 2 ad vertical central sectional view of my preferred power transmitter; and Fig. 3 a sectionaljview taken along the'vertical line III -III of Fig. 2.} a

. In Fig: l'thereis generally disclos'eda, prime -mover I, in the form of a rotatable shaft driven 5 by an engine or motor (not shown), a mill stand hand a pinion stand 3 through which power is transmitted fromthe prime mover to therolls I of the mill. In'mill stand 2 there are twolfend housings- 4m which are journaled a top driven 6 f roll '5, a bottom driven roll 6, and-a middle idler Also. nuts 35 communicate to rods 32. any outwith parts it andin which is lodgedthe subjectfin matter of my invention. Two wobblers I2 and I3, respectively, connect roll 6 and pinion .9 and roll 5 and power transmitter H. Thus prime mover I is directly connected to and drives bottom roll 6 through the. shaft of. pinion 9 and'wob-bler l2. On the other hand, prime mover i drives top roll 5 only through power transmitter ll, so that some rotational slippage of roll 5 relative to roll (5 may be achieved.

Power: transmite'r I lie shown tojenlarged scale in Figs. 2 and 3. Journaled in housing 8 of pinion stand 3 is a rotatable spindle 28 formed of two distinct members 29a and 29b. The former is providedupon. its outer end with a Wobbler sec- :tion 2! for operative connection with obbler l3 and is necked down upon its inner end to form; a

reduced section 22 which fits into a deep-socket provided in the inner end of member the two.

members being rigidly bound together by a key 23 and ascrew z t or some other mechanical equivalents; v

Journaled on the peripheries of members 20a and 20b of spindle in is a solid ring 25 which'is. provided-uponits own periphery with gear teeth 25 for engagement with the teeth of middle pinion H of Fig. 1. Operative connection between ring 25 andspindle 2D is efiected through ring-like collar 35.

a plate bank 21, these plates being alternatively splined to the inner wall 280i ring 25: and to the periphery 25 of pin section 22', provision being made for some movement longitudinally of ring 25 and-spindle Zil, in order that the ,frictional adherence-of the plates to one another may be varied and the character of the operative connection between ring 25 and spindle '26 conse-.

quently changed. One endof plate bank 2'! abuts against the inner end of member Zfib of spindle 2E, while against its other end is placed a movable Plate bank 2'! may consist merely of a single platesplined to inner wall is caused to compress plate bank 21 and increase spider having legs. 39.

28 and a single one splined to periphery 29 or, as shown in the drawings, a pluralityof plates may be splined to eitheror both inner wall 28 or periphery 29, .theexact number, of course, being determined by, the desired characteristics of the machine.

Extending longitudinally of pin section 22 there are a plurality of channels 3 l three being shown,

in each of which is placed a reciprocable rod or force-transmitting member 32. At the inner end of each rod there is'an outwardly projecting hook or lug which engages the side of collar Si! in such fashion thatwhen tensional forces:

are applied to the outer end of rods 32, collar 30 the frictional adherence of theplates. .The outer ends of rods 32 passtnrough apertures;3.4 ina circular plate 35 and are securely. held in this position by nuts 36 screwed upon those ends.

ward forces applied to plate 35.

A hub 31, through which is an aperture 38; is rigidly attached to housing 8 by means-of a Passing through aperture Stand thus supported by hub is a rod Mlwhich is held against rotation by a key 4| .or

some'mechanical equivalent.- The inner endof rod 4t protrudes through an aperture 42' in plate 35 and is provided'with a lateral flange 3 off considerably greater magnitude than aperture' Z, so that; when tensional-forcesare applied to the opposite or outer end of rod 4i]; flange 43wbearsi against and governs the position of plate Since I plate 35 naturally: revolves unison with spindle 211, While rod 4!} has no rotational move- 'ment, thrust roller bearings 44 are inserted between flange 43 and plate 35 to minimize friction. The outer end of rod is threaded to receive a nut 45 and washer 46 and, surrounding rod 40 between thisqwasher and hub 31, is a strong coil spring 41.

' With this apparatus the tensional force created in non-rotating rod 40 by spring is communicated through fla ge 43 to rotating plate 35 and thence .through rods 32 and collar 30 into plate bank 21, whereit produces compressive action v on, and consequent frictional adherence of the plates. Thus,,the pressure of non-rotating spring l 'i; determines the operative connection between ring 25 and spindle 2B, and the fraction of input power supplied to pinion ring 25 which is transmitted-to. spindle 20 and thence to top roll 5.

And thus when different fractions and operative connections are desired, it is necessary only to fit is being made rather than to act-upon trial and.

error. e

Theadvantages of this improvement. are. apparent in the operation ofthe rolling mill. dis. closed in Fig. 1.. When the stripbeing rolledbe; gins to curl, the operator. can easily eliminatethis. defect by.v immediately'adjusting a; single nut, it,-

.' varythe. efiective, pressure of spring 41, a simple being unnecessary to shut down the prime mover' and thenumerous mill stands, c

The use of this machine inlother. situations is.)

of course, contemplated, as are numerous mechanical changes in the apparatusitself. Thus,

. the direction. of, power transmission may befrom.

the spindle to the. ring and; the ways in, which. spindle 20 and ring 25 areoperativelyconnected. to the outside. elements, such aszwobbler. I3 or middle pinion. lfl, may be varied tosuit. any situ.-

ation. And. there may be numerousmechamcah changes in, the apparatus for applyingcompresrsive force to plate bank. 211. g

According to the provisions/0t; the patent statutes, Ihave explained, the principle and, mode of operation of my invention andhave. illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its bestembodiment. However, I-de-:

sire-to have it understoodrthat, within thescope.

of the appended claims the invention may be practicedotherwise than as...specificallyyilluse.

trated and described. p

I claim:

1. In a rolling mill, an adjustable-slip. power transmitter comprising a housing, a. rotatable;-

spindlepjournaled therein-aand adapted to be connectedto amill roll for driving the; roll, a driving member encircling the-spindle-and rotatable rela-z.

.tive thereto, a series of friction :pla-tes encircling: said spindle within said driving member, alternate plates being splined onthc spindle. the :remaining plates being splined on the driving-member, meansfor. moving said plates axially into frictional-engagement with one another to transmit power from said driving member to the spindle, said means extending longitudinally of the spindle and projecting from said housing, an axially movable member projecting away from thehousing in axial alignment with the spindle, means holde. ing said member against rotation, means. r0tat--- ably mounted on said non-rotatable member [and connected to said plate-moving means, andmeans for adjusting" said non-rotatable member longitudinally while the spindle is rotating to vary the amount of slippage between said plates.

plates being splined on the spindle, the remaining plates being splined on the,driving*member, a plurality of rods rotatable with and slidable longitudinally of the spindle, the inner ends of said "rods engaging the plates to press them into frictional engagement with one another, theouter V endsof the rods projecting from said housing, a

plate connected to the outer ends of the rods and provided with an opening in axial alignment with the spindle, a headed pin-like member extending through said opening with its head disposed'between said plate and spindle, rigid means mounted on the housing holdingsaid pin-like member against rotation with said plate, and means threaded on said member between its outer end "and said rigid means Ioradjusting said member longitudinally while the spindle is rotating to varythe amount of slippage between said plates.

3. In a rolling mill, an adjustable slip "power transmitter comprising a housing, a rotatable spindle journaled therein and adapted to be ccn-.

nected to a mill roll for driving the roll, a driving member encircling the spindle and rotatable relative thereto, a series of-friction plates encircling said spindle within said, driving member, alternate plates being splined on the spindle, the remaining plates being splined on the driving mem- 2 her, said spindle beingprovided with a plurality of .circumferentially spaced passages leading from beneath the innermost plate to the opposite end of the spindle, a rod slidably disposed in each passage with its inner end having a head engaging said innermost plate and with its outer and projecting from said spindle 'andhousing, a plate connected to the outer ends of the rods and provided with an opening-inaxial alignment with the spindle, a'headed pin-like member extending through said opening with its head disposed between said plate and spind1e,'rigid means mounted on the housing holding. said pin-like member against rotation with said plate, and means threaded on 'saidmember between its outerend,

and said rigid meansfor adjusting said member longitudinally while the spindle is rotating to :80

vary the amount of slippage between said plates.

WENTZEL R. DUDA. 

